Essay about Nuclear Energy

The electrical failure caused the operator to not know that the valve was still open, which led to cooling water pouring out of the valve and caused the reactor core to overheat. As a result of all of these things, the instruments that the operators read to know what was happening provided confusing information. The operators could not tell how much coolant was in the reactor core because they didn't

On May 28, 1979, around 4 a.m. in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, the worst nuclear accident in United States history occurred (Backgrounder…). The Metropolitan Edison Company was operating Reactor 2 as normal but then it suddenly shutdown due to a rise in the temperature of the coolant feed. When functioning properly, the reactor is cooled by a steady stream of a coolant water that flows into and then out of the reactor which is the cooled and recycled back to the reactor. However, the temperature of the inlet, coolant feed increased and caused the reactor to

The evacuation zone was 18.6 miles with over 250,000 people moving to new homes (Nuclear Instituition). Goverment policies aimed on protection to the population from radiation through resettlement and also by making limitations (Chapman Morris). By 2000 the last reactor was shut down (Wikipedia).

Summer march 28, 1979 reactor number 1 was shutdown for refueling while reactor number 2 was running at 97% power. The problem which caused the main event to follow was a blockage in the filtration system, the filtration was normally cleaned with air pressure. When the air pressure wasn’t working they decided just to use the force of the water. The force of the water caused a valve to leak which then caused the feed water and booster pumps to turn off. This stopped the whole process of the nuclear reactor, with that happened the steam in the reactor had nowhere to go with the decay heat increasing. All this caused

"Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident." NRC:. United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, n.d. Web. 15 May 2016.

On April 26, 1986, at Chernobyl power plant, in Ukraine, testing was being conducted on reactor 4 to see how the reactor would cope with lower power output. After testing was complete, one of the operators forgot to reset the power outage to the 30% standard requirement, therefore it caused a devastating chain of events to occur. Water flow to the reactor increased to counteract the lack of power and radiation building up which was trying to cool the system. The water created large

The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant was designated as a Historical Marker on March 25, 1999. The meltdown began in the non-nuclear secondary system on March 28,1979, then a pilot operated relief valve was stuck open in the primary system that allowed large amounts of coolant out. This disaster could have been prevented but many of the workers were improperly trained and human error played a factor. There were no deaths but it made the way for new regulations for nuclear power plants. Workers started to clean up the Three Mile Island disaster in August 1979 and ended in December of 1993.

The first ever nuclear test occurred on July 16, 1945 in Trinity, New Mexico (ICAN, n.d.). This

Fission is controlled within a nuclear reactor, in contrast to an uncontrolled reaction in an atomic bomb. One method utilized to control the reaction is neutron absorption through control rods. These rods have the ability to capture neutrons, which consequently slows the reaction down when they are placed among the fuel assembly. Of course, a reaction must first begin before it needs to slow down. Fuel rods containing pellets, often made of uranium-235, are grouped into a fuel assembly to act as fuel for the reaction. These fuel rods must contain critical mass, or the minimum amount of fissionable uranium to sustain the reaction. Once the fuel rods have been used, they are no longer able to sustain a chain reaction and contain subcritical mass. The initial chain reaction is able to occur when the uranium pellets are bombarded with neutrons, causing the uranium atoms to split and release energy in the form of heat, and while also release more neutrons to collide with other atoms to create even more heat (How Do Nuclear, n.d.). Due to this being a controlled reaction, energy is released slower, meaning the heat produced is able to be captured. Because the TMI-2 was a pressurized water reactor and not a boiling water reactor, the heat was then taken to the primary coolant water system, and the pressurizer kept the water from boiling (How Do Nuclear, n.d.). As the previous image shows,

Steam accumulated inside the reactor was no more utilized by the turbine and there was a spike in temperature of the nucleus of the reactor. Indeed, even the helper pumps were closed down for cleaning and this was the reason as why there was no water in the plant’s reactor. The engineers in the controller room quickly close the auto safety valve, however the administrators didn't understand that the help valve was blocked and it was not shut. They imagined that the core is protected by looking at the marker of emergency assistance valve in the controller room. Here the mishap happens, the administrators by eluding the pointer missed to weigh the genuine issue in the reactor. Because of the opening of emergency assistance valve, the cool water in the reactor spilled out through valve and this heated the plant and made reactor hotter. The water dripped from the open valve spilled into an adjacent building discharging radioactive gasses. Following a few hours' main pumps was worked to put water in the reactor and the reactor started to cool down. Later it came to realize that hydrogen air pockets were shaped on the interior of the plant. If it is exposed to the air, an expansive blast can happen and resulting in many deaths in Three Mile

n April 26 1986, one of the most destructive man made accident happened. Chernobyl, a Ukrainian city flourished with people and energy. Not just any kind of energy, but the most lethal energy source… Nuclear Energy. On this day, the most lethal energy turned rouge against Chernobyl. The city was never the same again.

During the 1970s, Americans were brought together after the death of the King of Rock and Roll and the release of the one of the greatest movies, Star Wars, but a historical disaster was yet to come. On March 28,1979, located on the Susquehanna River, in the state of Pennsylvania, one of the worst nuclear accidents occurred. One of the two water reactors had failed to close, allowing cooling water containing radiation to seep out. Although there were no reported injuries or deaths, several safety precautions were taken in many other areas of nuclear plants.

when a feed pump failed. Soon to counteract the lower coolant flow the reactor started to lower

Moreover, since this is the same area where the nuclear disaster happened five years ago, people fear that there will be a melt down again. For about an hour and a half, concerns were heightened as the cooling system of one reactor suddenly shut down. Luckily, the plant resumed operations without

During the course of events, the relief valve on the reactor cooling system opened as it was supposed to within seconds of the shutdown. Nevertheless, it remained open when it should be close causing leakage of vital reactor coolant water to the reactor coolant drain tank. Due to the loss of cooling water, a highly pressurized injection pump automatically pushed